Question: How many Utah Jazz fans knew Tony Bradley was still in the NBA? For the record, he was out of the league for a year and a half and was buried on the bench until the Indiana Pacers had no better options. Bradley surprisingly proved himself reliable in the four games he appeared in, which is sad news for the Jazz, seeing how they could have used that production when he was on the team.
It's not like Bradley dominated in his minutes, as his job with the Pacers was to hold down the fort while Myles Turner sat on the bench. While the offense was worse with Bradley, the defense was actually quite good. The Pacers scored 9.2 points fewer per 100 possessions with Bradley, but also allowed 21.8 fewer points per 100 possessions in that same time, per NBA.com.
In only 54 minutes, Bradley was... helpful.
Bradley also got hurt during the series, which led to Thomas Bryant briefly turning into the seven-foot Kobe Bryant in their finals-clinching victory over the New York Knicks. Still, his contributions should not be swept under the rug. At the same time, it is sad to think about how that kind of production could have salavaged the Jazz during the Donovan Mitchell-Rudy Gobert era.
No dependable backup center hurt the Mitchell-Gobert Jazz teams
Having a backup big man during that era of basketball wasn't initially a problem when the Mitchell-Gobert era started. Beloved Jazz alum Derrick Favors may have been a starter, but his value came from being the team's center when Gobert had to sit out. When it was clear in 2019 that the Jazz's ceiling was limited, they sacrificed him to raise it.
After that, the Jazz never really had that second center who could keep the ship afloat while Gobert sat. They tried with various players like Bradley, Ed Davis, Udoka Azubuike, and they even brought back Favors for that exact purpose, but by then, he was past his prime.
Plenty of factors went into why the Jazz never quite reached that level they wanted with Mitchell and Gobert. Not having a serviceable second string big man wasn't their worst problem, but it was still a problem. That's why seeing Bradley put together some solid minutes in Indiana makes that reality all the tougher to stomach.
If he could have done that as a Jazzman, maybe the Mitchell-Gobert era would be looked back at with more fondness. Perhaps they still would be Jazzmen had Bradley covered that hole. His role with the Pacers isn't that big, but it was important enough to help them make their first NBA Finals appearance in two and a half decades.
Doing so has made Bradley defy all odds and become the first Jazzman post-Mitchell and Gobert era to make the NBA Finals when he likely was the last one fans would have thought of to do so.